Top crypto to watch this week: Avalanche, Cronos, LayerZero

The crypto market remained under pressure last week, with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple (XRP) dropping by double digits. This decline happened as the total open interest pulled back and as the fear and greed index slipped. 

This article explores some of the top cryptocurrencies to watch this week, including Avalanche (AVAX), Cronos (CRO), and LayerZero (ZRO). 

Avalanche in the spotlight ahead of the Granite upgrade

Avalanche price has been in a strong downtrend in the past few months. AVAX token has dropped from a high of $36.43 in September to a low of $15.25. 

Avalanche price will be in the spotlight this week as the developers launch the Granite upgrade. This is an important upgrade that introduces three key features: Cross-Chain messaging enhancement, biometric authentication, and dynamic block times.

The Granite upgrade comes as the Avalanche network is doing well. Data compiled by Nansen shows that the number of transactions jumped by 96% to 63.3 million in the last 30 days, making it the fastest-growing chains.

Avalanche has also become one of the top players in the Real World Asset (RWA) industry, where its total value locked has jumped by over 65% in the last 30 days. Avalanche’s number of users has continued rising, growing by 8.8% in the last 30 days to 730,000.

Additionally, Avalanche has continued to burn tokens in the past few months, reducing the number of tokens in circulation.

Cronos (CRO)  price drops ahead of a major token unlock 

The other notable crypto to watch this week is Cronos, the token associated with Crypto.com. CRO price has plunged by over 70% from the year-to-date high despite its relationship with Trump Media.

Cronos ecosystem growth has largely stalled, with the total value locked (TVL) in the network dropping by 22% in the last 30 days to $650 million. Its stablecoin market cap has also been in a strong downward trend in the past few months.

Cronos will be in the spotlight this week as the network unlocks 1.17 billion tokens valued at over $135 million. A token unlock often puts more pressure on a cryptocurrency as it introduces more coins in the market.

LayerZero price in focus ahead of a major unlock 

LayerZero is one of the biggest players in the crypto industry, where it provides cross-chain communication solutions that enable secure data transfer between different blockchains.

Data compiled by DeFi Llama shows that the total bridged volume jumped to a record high of $15.9 billion in October from $13.9 billion a month later. Its bridged volume this month stands at $6.35 billion.

LayerZero will be in the spotlight this week because of the upcoming token unlock, which will unlock about 32.61 million worth $48 million on 20th November. The network has unlocked about 38% of all its tokens.

The other top cryptocurrencies to have unlocks this week will be Merlin Chain, Plume, OG, Lombard, and Aster.